Unknown battles of WW1 - Lodz

[SMK-at-work]

Does anyone have a plan for winning or even drawing this as the Russians??[&o][&o]

[Legun]

My hints:
1) Concentrate all corps of 2nd Army just in Lodz. 1-2 divided regiments could be sacrifised to delays the Huns by digging them in forest hexes or in Zgierz and/or Aleksandrow. One corps (IV or I) should maybe counter-attack a little toward Brzeziny to secure Lodz from West.
2) Send ASAP at least 2CDs from left flank to right flank to prevent cavalry penetration.
3) Dig in your regiments (at least 2 per hex) on Lodz perimeter, be sure that they are supported by their corps artillery and army artillery. When the Germans start assault on the position, try limited, spoiling counter-attack against biggest stacks (one IR with minimal losse with support of one artillery unit). Be careful and stop the counter-attack soon - just to be able to withdraw counterattacking infantry to second line and to dig in supporting artillery again.
4) Use historical reinforcement options (if you are playing against Elmer, only). Allow your opponent to move on a little on his wings. Wait to turn 5-6 and try to defeat his wings by 1st and 5th Army. Be careful becouse a possibility of his southern option. One division of 5th Army could be necessary to prevent southern direction.

be continued...

[Legun]

The Russians must counter-attack in the middle part of the scenario. This is their chance for victory. New Central Powers units arrive at turn 13-16, so the Germans get an adventage again. It's not obvious - detailed balance depends on both sides losses and a relation between location of a frontline and selected enter points of reinforcements. Anyway, the Russians must be prepared for a second German offensive during final part of the scenario. The Russians get some reinforcements in this part of scenario, too.

[SMK-at-work]

Thanks for the tips - I guess I have to try harder - my 2 corps to the north rarely survive long enough to get back to Lodz!

However I managed to lose as the Central Powers last night......so I'm an equal opportunity incompetant!!

[Legun]

I'm just preparing modified graphics for the serie. When it's ready I must try to play the scenario against Elmer myself, too [8|].

[SMK-at-work]

Elmer = the AI I presume???
 
A question on the setup - the CP has quiet a large area of "friendly" territory at the start, especially to the east of Lodz, although they havent' been there yet (and hadn't been there historically) - why is that?

[Legun]

This is my answer for lack of no-man land in TOAW. The difference between movement costs upon friendly and enemy terrain is just too high - 2:1. There is no chance for Germans for a victory in the historical race for catching the Russian 2nd Army's right flank, if this part of battlefield belongs to the Russians. There was no Russian troops in the area, and the Germans marched toward Brzeziny very quickly - quicker than on the direction just toward Lodz.
 
The XXIII and II Siberian Corps should just run toward Lodz ASAP, using cavalry to cover their disengagement.
 
Yes, Elmer is the name of the new PO used by his father - Ralph Trickey.
 
I'm not sure about TOAW3, but for ACOW it works this way, that if you want to make your tactical experience against PO usable for PBEM games, you need set the advanced game option to "Human +1".

[SMK-at-work]

The only info I ahve on the battle is from Wiki and the maps at firstworldwar.com (http://www.firstworldwar.com/maps/easternfront.htm), which themselves I think come from the Wespoint Military Atlas of American Wars Vol II 1900-1918 (essentially just WW1 & available through Amazon from US$12 - well recommened)
 
Unfortunately these don't cover quite the same period as your battle so are a little hard to matrry up with your scenario.

[Legun]

Oh, I've just checked and noticed, that the animated aftermath presentation for the scenario isn't attached to TOAWIII [:(]. You can download it with the ACOW scenario:
http://www.the-strategist.net/RD/scenar ... php?Id=480
It should give you a picture of historical events.

[SMK-at-work]

I found a couple of interesting works on the batle and general era at the US Army CGSC virtual library in case anyone is interested.
 
First a student paper on Lodz, with particular interest in the operations of I Cav Corps.  Sadly the maps mentioned in the text are missing:  http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/p4013coll7&CISOPTR=125
 
the 2nd is a series of papers given in 1915 on operations in 1914-15, and including such topics as the Russian mobilisation and food crisis in Britain, among others:
 
http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/p4013coll7&CISOPTR=110

[SMK-at-work]

I've come back to this game after a break - sucker for punnishment I guess.
 
I'm still not getting it tho - I can usually hold the Germans at Lodz until about T6-8, but then the initial Russian troops are completely shattered.  Even the 2 corps coming from the south-west are easily smashed by the German forces despite being in "green" state and usualy at elast entrenched by the time the Germans get to them.
 
Reinforcements can push in one flank, but they are so far from Lodz that they have no effect on the "main" battle and are easily slowed down by the numerous German cavalry - if they drive it in then they quickly become tired and require time halted to recover.
 
But so far I'm only retiring the northern forces 1-1 1/2 move southwards, and leaving behind cavalry and a few battalions to try to slow the Germans - my next option is to abandon Lodz entirely and retire "behind" it to get more time, and give the rearguards a bit more time to perhaps dig in and hold on for a bit longer.
 
A question about the supply units - do they actualy achieve anything by being close to combat units? 
 
It's an intriguing scenario - I'm really enjoying it despite my total lack of success!! I'm gettign a hair shirt later today![8D]

[SMK-at-work]

The hair shirt finally worked & I managed to beat Elmer over the weekend - it's been a while since I played thisscenario & in between I've played Nth Africa 41-43, and 25 or so turns of FiTE so I think hte practice is paying off.

Since last time I've played I have:
1/ come to understand how artillery works in "general support" for all attacks anddefences in range if it's not bombarding, and
2/ realised that replacements in this game are much, much slower than in others, so sometimes that "tellow" unit can be pretty damned tough!

[larryfulkerson]

How about a picture or two of the front lines every once in a while?

[SMK-at-work]

That'd be nice, but I don't know how attachments work in this BB system - let's see......seems they have to be a web link? I've nowhere to host them. Plus my computer is screwed up & doesn't generate the BMP's of the situation map properly so I can't do GiF's either [:(]

k - spent all afternoon trying to get imageshack to work - let's see - Lodz t21 - a couple of turns before the end - Russian forces freed towards the north of the map are about to head south to secure Lodz, otherwise everything is pretty much exhausted on both sides!




That's the best I can get short of a 500kb monster - how do I get trid of hte white bits tho??!!